JPH04371415A - Tubular container aligning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To feed tubular container to a filling machine or the like with its direction automatically aligned. CONSTITUTION:There are provided a rotating disc 3 and a sensor 4 facing the drum inner side in a drum 2 which has a surrounding wall 1, and the primary air blower port 5 facing the drum inner side is provided on the downstream side of the sensor 4, and a number of radial groove parts 10 are provided on the upper surface of the rotating disc 3. The groove parts 10 are formed to hold a tubular container 7, a guide 8 which pushes the tubular container 7 to the outer peripheral side is provided on the downstream of the primary air blower port 5, a container receiving part 9 is provided on the downstream of the guide 8, the direction of the tubular container 7 is detected by the sensor 4, and only tubular containers 7 whose directions are judged as improper, are blown off by air from the first air blower port 5. Only tubular containers 7 whose directions are normal, are made to fall onto the container receiving part 9 along the guide 8, a repeating installation for storing the tubular containers and transferring them to the next stage is provided at the rear stage of the container receiving part, and the repeating installation is provided with a storing layer for storing the tubular containers which are transferred from the container receiving part with the tubular containers piled up in a transverse condition, and discharging the tubular containers from the lower edge.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tube container alignment device, and more particularly to a device for aligning tube containers and sending them to a filling machine or the like.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, automatic filling machines are used to fill tube containers with contents. This automatic filling machine 2
0, as shown in FIG. 12, a rotary table 22 is rotatably arranged on a base 21, and a plurality of container holders 23 are arranged on the circumference of this rotary table 22.

The container holder 23 is adapted to hold the tube container 7 in a position with its cap 7a facing down. A hopper P for filling the semi-kneaded contents is erected on the base 21, and its filling nozzle P1 is positioned on the trajectory of the container holder 23.

[0004] The tube container 7 fitted into the container holder 23 rotates together with the rotary table 22 and reaches directly below the filling nozzle P1, where the hopper P is filled with the semi-mixed contents.

Conventionally, the container holder 23 is attached to the tube container 7 manually.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional system described above, although the filling of the contents is performed automatically, the feeding of the tube container 7 is dependent on manual labor, which results in a lack of efficiency and slow operation. There is also the problem of time limitations.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a technical object thereof is to provide a tube container aligning device capable of aligning and supplying tube containers in a specific direction.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a drum having a peripheral wall is provided, a rotary disk is disposed within this drum, a sensor is provided on the drum facing inward of the drum, and a first air blower facing inward of the drum is provided on the downstream side of the sensor. An outlet is provided, a number of radial grooves are provided on the upper surface of the rotary disk, the tube container is held in the grooves, and a guide is provided downstream of the first air outlet for pushing the tube container toward the outer circumference. , a container receiver is provided downstream of this guide, and the sensor detects the orientation of the tube container, and only the tube container whose orientation is determined to be inappropriate is blown away by the air from the first air outlet, and the tube container with the correct orientation is blown away. In addition, a relay device for accumulating tube containers and feeding them to the next stage is provided at the rear stage of the container receiver, and this relay device It is equipped with an accumulation store which stacks transported tube containers horizontally and discharges the tube containers from the lower end.

Further, instead of the guide, a second air outlet is provided downstream of the first air outlet for blowing the tube container toward the outer circumference, and a container receiver is provided downstream of the second air outlet, It can be configured such that only tube containers in the correct orientation are blown by the air from the second air outlet and moved to the container receiver.

[0010] The groove may have any structure as long as it can hold the tube container, and protrusions may be provided on both sides of the tube container instead of the groove.

[0011]

[Operation] Place the tube containers separately on the rotating disk. As the rotary disk rotates, the tube container is held between the protrusions. When the tube container reaches the sensor, it is detected whether the direction of the tube container is normal or not. If it is not, compressed air is blown out from the first air outlet and returned to the container reservoir to align it again. .

[0012] Then, the tube container in the normal orientation is placed in the first
It is not blown away by the compressed air from the air outlet, but is transferred downstream as the rotary disk rotates and comes into contact with the guide. Subsequently, the tube container is gradually pushed out toward the outer periphery and falls into the container receiver.

[0013] In this way, only tube containers in the correct orientation fall into the container receiver along the guide, making automatic loading into a filling machine or the like easier. On the other hand, in the second configuration, the first
In this configuration, the tube containers whose orientations are selected and have the proper orientation are blown away by compressed air from the second air outlet and moved to the container receiver.

[0014] Tube containers are stacked horizontally and stored in a storage tank of a relay device provided downstream of the container receiver. Subsequently, the tube container is discharged from the lower end of this storage chamber.

[0015]

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be explained based on FIGS. 1 to 11.

[0016]

[Embodiment 1] Embodiment 1 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. This device supplies oriented tube containers to the automatic filling machine 20 shown in FIG. A circular drum 2 having a peripheral wall 1 is provided on the base M, and a rotary disk 3 is disposed within this drum 2. The rotational axes of the drum 2 and rotary disk 3 are inclined at about 30 degrees with respect to the horizontal. The peripheral wall 1 is provided on the lower side of the drum 2 within a range of about 150 degrees. This is to prevent the tube container 7 on the rotary disk 3 from spilling outside.

The rotary disk 3 is rotated in the direction of arrow F by a motor installed in the base M. A sensor 4 facing toward the inside of the drum is provided on the high position side of the drum 2. This sensor is a combination of a high-brightness light emitting diode and a phototransistor, and is configured to project light toward the tube container 7 and receive the reflected light with the phototransistor.

A first air outlet 5 facing inward of the drum is provided downstream of the sensor 4 (with respect to the rotational direction of the rotary disk 3). An air compressor (not shown) is connected to the first air outlet 5.

A radial protrusion 6 is formed on the upper surface of the rotary disk 3.
There are many. A tube container 7 is held between the protrusions 6. A guide 8 is provided downstream of the first air outlet 5 for pushing the tube container 7 toward the outer circumference. This guide 8 has a plate shape, is positioned perpendicular to the surface of the rotary disk 3, and has its lower edge parallel to the rotary disk 3. The height from the rotary disk 3 to the lower edge of the guide 8 is set so that it does not contact the protrusion 6 but contacts the tube container 7.

A container receiver 9 is provided downstream of the guide 8. This container receiver 9 is located on the outer periphery of the rotary disk 3, and the tube container 9 that has fallen along the guide 8
The tube container 7 is fed under pressure to an automatic filling machine or the like via an air duct 9a connected to the outlet of the container receiver 9.

An example of operation will be explained below. When the tube containers 7 are placed on the rotary disk 3 in pieces, the tube containers 7 are held between the adjacent protrusions 6, 6 by the rotation of the rotary disk 3. When the tube container reaches the sensor 4, it is detected whether the direction of the tube container is normal. That is, when the head of the tube container 7 faces toward the outer circumferential side of the rotary disk 3, the light is reflected by the cap 7a attached to the head of the tube container 7, so that the light enters the phototransistor; When the opening of the container 7 faces the outer circumferential side of the rotary disk 3, the light is absorbed into the tube container 7, so there is no reflection and the light does not enter the phototransistor. Therefore, by detecting the current of the phototransistor, it can be determined whether the orientation of the tube container 7 is normal.

If the tube container 7 is oriented in the correct direction (in the embodiment, the cap 7a is on the outside), it is allowed to pass through as is. On the other hand, if the orientation of the tube container 7 is inappropriate, when the tube container reaches the first air outlet 5, compressed air is blown from there and the tube container 7 is blown down to a low position.

The tube container 7 in the correct orientation comes into contact with the guide 8 by the rotation of the rotary disk 3, and is gradually pushed toward the outer circumference and falls into the container receiver 9. As described above, the orientation of the tube containers 7 is detected by the sensor 4, and only the tube containers 7 whose orientation is determined to be inappropriate are blown away by the air from the first air outlet 5, and the tube containers 7 whose orientation is normal are blown away. Since the tube containers 7 fall along the guide 8 into the container receiver 9, the tube containers 7 can be aligned in the same direction and can be supplied as is to the automatic machine.

[0024]

Embodiment 2 FIG. 4 shows Embodiment 2, in which a large number of radial grooves 10 are provided on the upper surface of the rotary disk 3, and the tube container 7 is held in the grooves 10.

[0025]

Embodiment 3 FIG. 5 shows Embodiment 3, in which the rotary disk 3 is configured to have a middle height and become lower toward the periphery. In each of the embodiments described above, the tube container 7 was stabilized on the side of the peripheral wall 1 by tilting the rotary disk 3, but in this embodiment, since the rotary disk 3 itself is inclined, the rotary disk 3 cannot be held horizontally. can be supported.

The other configurations and functions are the same as those of the first embodiment, and will therefore be omitted.

[0027]

[Embodiment 4] Embodiment 4 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 to 11. In this embodiment, a second air outlet 80 is provided in place of the guide 8 that moves the tube container 7 in the first embodiment.

That is, the second air outlet 80 is downstream of the first air outlet 5, approximately 30 degrees downstream of the first air outlet 5 on the circumference of the rotary disk 3, and is located downstream of the first air outlet 5. A blow-off nozzle 81 provided on the inside and provided at the tip of the second air blow-off port 80 faces toward the outer circumferential direction of the rotary disk 3 .

On the other hand, a container receiver 9 is provided on the outer circumferential side of the rotary disk 3 in correspondence with the position of the second air outlet 80 in the blowing direction. 7 falls into the container receiver 9 with the cap 7a at the top. As shown in FIG. 6, the container receiver 9 is plate-shaped, has walls on both sides, and is formed so that the width becomes narrower toward the outer end. Then, it is sloped so that it becomes lower as it reaches the outer end.

With the above configuration, only the tube containers 7 in the correct orientation are blown away by the air from the second air outlet 80 and moved to the container receiver 9. A cylindrical container catcher 82 is provided at the tip of the container receiver 9. This container catcher 82 is provided with a cushioning material 83 in its inner part.
The tube container 7 that has jumped into the container can be stopped flexibly. Container catcher 82
is held so that its longitudinal direction is substantially horizontal, and a drop opening 83a through which the tube container 7 can pass is provided on the lower side of the container catcher 82 side. This fall port 83
An accumulation store 85 is arranged below a, and the tube containers 7 can be temporarily stored in the storage store 85 in a vertically stacked manner. A chute 86 is provided at the bottom of the storage chamber 85, and the tube container 7 is force-fed into the air duct 9a by an air feeder (not shown).

A relay device A is provided at the end of the air duct 9a for supplying the transported tube container 7 to an automatic filling machine (not shown). Hereinafter, the relay device A will be briefly explained based on FIGS. 8 to 11.

That is, above the base 31 made of a flat plate, there is provided an accumulation warehouse 33 in which the tube containers 7 conveyed from the container alignment device described above are stacked and stored horizontally. The storage tank 33 has a prismatic shape with a rectangular cross section, and the terminal end of the air duct 9a opens at the upper opening thereof. The tube containers 7 having the same orientation are discharged downward from the air duct 9a.

[0033] A distribution frame 35 is provided between the storage tank 33 and the base 31 so as to be freely slidable. This sorting frame 35 is provided with a container accommodating portion 34 into which one tube container 7 can be placed. An air cylinder 35a is connected to the distribution frame 35, and the supply pressure to the air cylinder 35a is controlled by an air compressor (not shown) to cause the distribution frame 35 to slide.

A communicating path 36 is formed in the base 31 in correspondence with the container accommodating section 34, through which one tube container 7 can pass. Depending on the position of the sorting frame 35, the container accommodating section 34 and the communicating path 36 may communicate with each other, causing the tube container 7 to fall downward, or the communicating path 36 may be blocked by the sorting frame 35, causing the tube container 7 to be placed in the base position. It is designed to be held on a stand 31.

An auxiliary storage tank 37 is provided at the lower edge of the communication path 36. Like the storage tank 33, this sub-storage tank 37 has a rectangular prism shape with a rectangular cross section, and a discharge port 38 is formed at the lower end thereof. This discharge port 38 is formed in a size that allows the tube container 7 to be discharged.
An extrusion section 39 is located for extruding the to the outside.

The extruded portion 39 has a substantially box shape, and is provided with a groove 39a having a semicircular cross section in which the tube container 7 can be accommodated. The sliding operation is performed by an air cylinder 39a connected to this push-out portion 39. A support holder (not shown) for mounting the tube container 7 on an automatic filling machine (not shown) is arranged at the discharge destination of the extrusion section 39.

FIG. 9 shows another example of the configuration, in which the sub-storage warehouse 3
7 is bent to improve the space factor. Other configurations are similar to those shown in FIG. An air supply port 37c is provided on the lower side surface of the sub-accumulation chamber 37, through which air is fed under pressure from an air compressor (not shown) and the tube container 7 is forcibly transferred.

The operation will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11. When the tube containers 7 are supplied from the air duct 9a, the tube containers 7 are accumulated on the distribution frame 35. Then, from an automatic filling machine (not shown), the tube container 7
When a signal is sent out to the effect that the water should be supplied, the central control device receives this signal and operates the air cylinder 35a, causing the container storage section 34 and the communication path 36 to communicate with each other, and the tube container 7 to fall downward. . After a certain period of time, air cylinder 3
At the same time as 9a is activated, air is supplied to the air supply port 37c, and the tube container 7 on the extrusion part 39 is carried out to the outside.

[0039]

According to the present invention, since the tube containers can be automatically oriented in the same direction and then supplied to a filling machine or the like, it is possible to realize automation and labor saving in production.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

[Fig. 1] Overall perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 2]
A perspective view of essential parts showing one embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 Example 2 of the present invention
Partial cross-sectional view showing

[Fig. 5] A cross-sectional view of main parts showing Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an overall perspective view showing Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an overall plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 8
]Side view showing an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 12] A perspective view showing a general automatic filling machine

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Surrounding wall, 2 Drums, 3 Rotary disk, 4 Sensor, 5 First air outlet, 6. Protrusion, 7 Tube container, 8. Guide, 9 Container holder, 10 Groove. A Relay device 33 Accumulation warehouse

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A drum having a circumferential wall is provided, a rotary disk is disposed within the drum, a sensor is provided on the drum facing inward of the drum, and a sensor is provided on the downstream side of the sensor facing inward of the drum. A plurality of radial grooves are provided on the upper surface of the rotary disk, and the tube container is held between the grooves, and the tube container is pushed out toward the outer circumference downstream of the first air outlet. In addition to providing a guide, a container receiver is provided downstream of this guide,
The orientation of the tube container is detected by the sensor, and only the tube container whose orientation is determined to be inappropriate is blown away by the air from the first air outlet, and only the tube container with the proper orientation falls into the container receiver along the guide. In addition, a relay device for accumulating tube containers and feeding them to the next stage is provided at the rear stage of the container receiver, and this relay device stacks the tube containers conveyed from the container receiver horizontally. A tube container aligning device comprising an accumulation chamber for accumulating tube containers and discharging the tube containers from the lower end. 2. A drum having a circumferential wall is provided, a rotary disk is disposed within the drum, a sensor is provided on the drum facing inward of the drum, and a sensor facing inward of the drum is provided on the downstream side of the sensor. A plurality of radial grooves are provided on the upper surface of the rotary disk to hold the tube container in the grooves, and a first air outlet is provided downstream of the first air outlet for blowing the tube container outward. 2 air outlets are provided, and a container receiver is provided in the blowing direction of the second air outlet, and the sensor detects the orientation of the tube container, and only tube containers whose orientation is inappropriate are removed from the first air outlet. The structure is configured such that only tube containers that are blown away by the air from the second air outlet and are oriented in the correct direction are blown away by the air from the second air outlet and moved to the container receiver, and the tube containers are accumulated at the rear stage of the container receiver. A relay device is provided for feeding the container to the container tray, and the relay device is equipped with an accumulation warehouse that stacks and stacks the tube containers conveyed from the container receiver horizontally and discharges the tube containers from the lower end. Tube container alignment device.